Pete's Dragon (2016)

The 1977 musical's Elliott is a mischievous cartoon companion; David Lowery's 2016 version makes him feel like a living animal whom a lonely child has learnt to trust. Fur, breath and the weight of a body against trees give the friendship a tactile tenderness. The new woodland story sheds most of the earlier film's plot and songs. Choose it for a quieter adventure about finding a home, while allowing for an upsetting parental-loss opening.